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I have always loved to make Pasta Stir-Fry recipes… over the years I have used a wide variety of ingredients and sauces… and all of them were good… I honestly can’t remember one that didn’t turn out delicious.

For a little background on how I started making these Pasta Stir-Fries… I worked at a large company for many years that had their own building… on the lower floor was a huge cafeteria… run by the Marriott… it was truly a wonderful cafeteria… large by any standards… with hot and cold foods… sandwiches… salad bar… a grill… dessert bar… soups… you name it… they had it… and they always had daily specials… it was the specials that opened a whole new world of possibilities for me…

Occasionally they would have a Pasta Stir-Fry Day… they had a large variety of ingredients to choose from and usually three sauces to pick from as well… you told the chef what you wanted and he tossed it in a sauté pan and made it to order… it was terrific.

Many of my Pasta Stir-Fry recipes came from their combinations… I loved making them… they were quick and easy… and I could prep the ingredients in advance … so when we would get home from work … all I had to do was re-heat the pasta and meat a bit and quickly sauté it all together. It was a great way to use up leftovers… especially meat and vegetable leftovers that weren’t enough by themselves… but cut-up and thrown into pasta dish.. they were perfect… even small amounts of leftover sauces worked well… it truly stretched my food and lowered my grocery bill.

Today’s Pasta Stir-Fry recipe uses fresh produce that looked especially good at the market this week….asparagus, mushrooms, Plum (Roma) tomatoes, thinly sliced baby zucchini and some jarred roasted red peppers for a little perk on the taste buds…. The sauce is simply basil pesto… I bought it this time… but you can make your own pesto easily… I posted a recipe for Basil Pesto a while back…

TIPS

For the pasta … I used rotini (spirals)… you can use bow ties or penne… or whatever you have for leftovers or in your pantry. To save money… I buy certain types of pasta that I frequently use, in larger quantities, and store them in airtight jars…

This recipe calls for 3 cups of dried pasta… usually you get about 5 cups of dried pasta to a pound…

Grilled chicken would also go well with this Stir-Fry… if you don’t want to grill the chicken yourself… you can use Rotisserie Chicken that you purchase at the store.

Make sure you don’t over-cook the asparagus or it will get soft and mushy… I just zapped it in the micro for about a minute to cook it a little before tossing it in the stir-fry…. Time cooking depends on how crispy you like your vegetables…. I also kept the asparagus out and stir–fried the other ingredients …even adding the pesto in… then as I was dumping the stir fry onto a platter I tossed in the asparagus so the tips wouldn’t break.

I used 2 tablespoons garlic olive oil to stir-fry the pasta and vegetables… if you don’t have it on hand you can use olive oil and add about 1 teaspoon garlic powder sprinkled over the ingredients….

I do recommend flavored olive oils… especially roasted garlic olive oil… I use it constantly… to cook with… in salad dressings and for dipping bread in… it is well worth it.

The quantities in this recipe make about 4 large servings or 6 smaller servings… I served it with garlic bread and a small salad… if you need more or less servings… simply adjust the quantities… use your judgment.

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